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Audit: Kansas SNAP payment error rate exceeded federal threshold; auditors recommend technology and training
Summary
Legislative auditors found Kansas' SNAP payment error rate exceeded the federal 6% threshold (peaking at 12% in 2023, 10% in 2024), identified staff turnover and verification inconsistencies as root causes, and recommended Keyes‑system changes such as a chatbot and document processing to reduce errors.
Auditors told the committee that Kansas' SNAP payment error rate has exceeded the federal tolerance of 6% since 2019 and reached 12% in 2023 (10% in 2024). The audit focused on accuracy of payments and identified multiple contributing factors including high staff turnover, complex eligibility rules, and inconsistent verification under DCF's ‘prudent person’ standard.
"It reached its highest level in 20 years in 2023 when it reached 12%," auditor Heidi said while reviewing federal and state payment‑error trends. Heidi told the committee auditors reviewed nearly 2,200 payments the state selected for quality control review in FY 2023–24; 286 of those errors were large enough to be counted in the federal payment‑error calculation and auditors identified roughly 970 errors across the sample when including lower‑dollar mistakes.
Auditors said they could not review individual SNAP applications because federal law restricts access; they relied on DCF's documentation and determinations to categorize error types and causes. Most errors related to income and resource calculations (59% of sampled errors), 33% related to allowed expenses, and 17% involved nonfinancial issues (for example, household composition or citizenship reporting).
Heidi said two Keyes system enhancements — a chatbot assistant to guide eligibility workers and a document‑processing module to auto‑populate fields from uploaded documents — would likely reduce errors but require funding; DCF officials confirmed those features have not yet been implemented. Auditors warned that under recent federal legislation, persistent error rates could expose Kansas to cost‑sharing penalties (estimated 10–15% of SNAP costs) and noted a forthcoming reduction in federal administrative funding that will raise the state's administrative share starting in FY 2027.
The committee accepted the SNAP audit on consent and asked for part 2 (benefit‑card transactions) and KDOR/DCF follow‑up where relevant.
